FORT GORDON, GA – Fort Gordon will dedicate its new machine gun range on Thursday, Dec. 13, in memory of a former commanding general and Columbia County resident, the late Lt. Gen. Robert E. Gray.

At the ceremony, set for 8 a.m. at Freedom Park, installation leaders will unveil a plaque dedicating the Lt. Gen. Robert E. Gray Multi-Purpose Machine Gun Range. Signal Center of Excellence and Fort Gordon Commanding General Maj. Gen. LaWarren Patterson will officiate, according to a news release from the facility.

The program, operated by Master Buick GMC in Martinez and Goodwill Industries, collects donated bicycles and refurbishes them for children at Christmas. Officials with the program this year plan to donate more than 150 bikes to area children at a “bike rodeo” at 6 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 13, at Master Buick GMC, according to an announcement from Goodwill Director of Communications Susan Everitt.

Donations of bicycles for this year’s program will be accepted until noon Thursday, Everitt said.

On a recent weekday morning, several members of the Spade and Trowel Garden Club worked in the gardens at the Boyhood Home of Woodrow Wilson, a historic house museum. The club adopted a plot in the backyard as a civic improvement project in November 2007.

While regular maintenance means clearing the garden of brush, adding amendments to the soil, pruning plants and weeding, this week’s efforts included planting narcissus – or daffodil – bulbs that will bloom in the spring. Last month, club members planted violas and snapdragons to give the garden some color during the winter.

Poinsettias are one of the more popular potted plants in the United States grown for the Christmas market. Most poinsettias are sold within a six-week period leading up to Christmas, with sales totaling approximately $60 million.

There are more than 100 varieties of poinsettias available, but red poinsettias remain the favorite. The colored parts of poinsettias that most think are flowers are actually modified leaves, called bracts. The true flowers are the round, yellow structures, or cyathia, in the center of the bracts.